Responsibilities of FT judges

So, finally, the Government of Assam has appointed over 200 members for the newly-created 200 Foreigners Tribunals which will handle the cases of such persons whose names were excluded from the National Register of Citizens, which was released on July 31. These would be in addition to the existing 100 Foreigners Tribunals and are part of the 1,000 such Tribunals that the Centre had decided to help Assam set up in view of the pressure envisaged to dispose of cases of people to be left out of the NRC. Each Foreigners Tribunal is headed by a judge-like member appointed under the Foreigners Tribunal Act, 1941, and Foreigners Tribunal Order, 1984, as per the guidelines issued by the government from time to time. While there were originally eleven Tribunals established under the erstwhile Illegal Migrant (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983 – IMDT – those were later converted to Foreigners Tribunals after the Supreme Court of India had struck down the IMDT Act by describing it as ultra vires to the Constitution of India. The government had in the recent years also constituted 100 more Foreigners Tribunals to handle the increasing workload. The newly appointed Foreigners Tribunal members have undergone a two-day intensive training and orientation where several judges of the Gauhati High Court provided them a thorough training so that each and every case forwarded to the Tribunals is scrutinized in the most professional and efficient manner. As pointed out by Justice Arup Kumar Goswami, acting Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, the newly appointed FT members have a very crucial role to play in meeting the challenges of scrutinizing each and every case with due diligence and fairness. As Justice Goswami has rightly pointed out during the inaugural function of the two-day training programme of the newly-appointed FT members, each and every document will have to undergone the process of keen examination carried out through a cool and clear mind. The FT members will have to delve deep into the claims and objections with maximum care, and keep an eye on whether the persons whose names did not figure in the NRC were trying to present false and forged documents in order to get their names into the vital document. Likewise, it is also important for the FT members to apply their mind with utmost care and judgment so that the name of no genuine Indian citizen is unnecessarily harassed and victimized due to some incorrect information or due to any kind of technical flaw. One must keep in mind the fact that while over 19 lakh applicants’ names were not included in the final National Register of Citizens, it is also common knowledge that a sizeable number of genuine Indian citizens and members of various ethnic and indigenous communities of Assam have been left out for reasons best known to the NRC officials. Similarly, it is also common knowledge that a sizeable number of persons of doubtful citizenship status have made it to the NRC by way of submitting documents which were allegedly obtained by resorting to forgery and fraud. It will also be a huge responsibility of the newly appointed Foreigners Tribunal members to apply their mind and ensure that while no genuine Indian or indigenous person is dubbed as an illegal migrant, simultaneously no illegal migrant’s name is cleared. It is an open secret that a very strong lobby has been working overtime for the past few years to ensure that maximum number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh obtained various kinds of documents by way of submitting fraudulent records and papers through a section of government officials who are either corrupt or have a leaning and weakness towards the Bangladeshi immigrants. This lobby is known to have the backing and blessing of forces both within and outside India. On the contrary, the indigenous and ethnic communities of Assam, whose very existence has been threatened by illegal migration, are of the hope that the newly created Foreigners Tribunals and their members will do justice and ensure that each and every illegal migrant is prevented from finding way into the NRC.